Feb. 08--HAMPTON -- After a five-day trial, a jury in a Hampton civil case sided with a Hampton surgeon in a medical malpractice case, awarding no damages to the plaintiff.

The verdict, at 8:30 p.m. Friday, came in a 2006 case that has seen three jury trials and many legal twists and turns over the years.

The $1.6 million suit was filed against Hampton surgeon Ajmal Sobhan following a 2003 colon operation in which nearly all of plaintiff Esther Howell's colon was removed. The incision later sprung a leak from Howell's abdomen, with Howell, now 80, claiming pain and anguish.

At a multi-day jury trial in May 2008, Hampton Circuit Judge Wilford Taylor Jr., dismissed the case on a motion from Sobhan's attorney, who argued that the plaintiff didn't prove the doctor caused the injuries. The motion followed the evidence phase of the case.

But in September 2009, the Virginia Supreme Court reversed Taylor's ruling and remanded the case back to the Circuit Court for a new trial. The high court ruled the jury should have been allowed to decide the case.

Taylor recused himself from the second trial, with Circuit Judge Louis R. Lerner then getting the case. But at a trial in August 2010, Lerner declared a mistrial after a fellow judge, Circuit Judge Bonnie L. Jones, sat in the back of the courtroom for 10 minutes during the trial.

Though the jury didn't see Jones there, Lerner declared her presence "an incurable taint over this trial" because he himself "made a connection between the plaintiff and Judge Jones."

Jones and Howell both attend the same church. Howell's lawyer, Paul Warren, opposed a mistrial, pointing out the jury didn't see Jones, and noting all of the previous delays in the case. He also said his client didn't know Jones, other than from the news.

But Lerner declared in response: "There is a taint upon this trial. There is a cloud that does not bring a clearing rain."

Lerner ended up recusing himself, and a retired jurist, Circuit Judge William H. Shaw III, was appointed to the case in October. The trial was heard last week.

Sobhan removed 54 centimeters of Howell's colon in 2003, and reattached the small intestine to the small amount of colon left. The leak followed. The suit asserted Sobhan didn't follow the standard of care and used improper techniques.

Seven jurors got the case Friday afternoon before arriving at their verdict to award Howell no money.

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